Edzard Ernst – författare

En besk medicin Välkommen till alternativmedicinens värld! Tusen och åter tusen är de som försökt kurera sig med akupunktur, örtmediciner eller homeopatiska produkter. Men vilka metoder fungerar egentligen och vilka är farliga eller i bästa fall harmlösa? Äntligen kan den vetgirige få svar, tack vare Simon Singh och Edzard Ernst, världens förste professor i alternativmedicin. Tillsammans har de skrivit den definitiva boken i ämnet, Salvekvick och kvacksalveri - Alternativmedicinen under luppen. Akupunktur, aromterapi, Feng Shui, homeopati, kiropraktik, kristallterapi, reiki och trettio andra populära behandlingar behandlas och utvärderas. Det är en ärlig, opartisk och besk medicin som serveras. Salvekvick och kvacksalveri är en given läsning för praktiserande läkare, som tyvärr är alltför dåligt pålästa, för politiker och tjänstemän som beslutar om den offentliga vården och för skattebetalarna som i sista hand får stå för kalaset. Och självfallet, för alla oss stackars patienter. Simon Singh är en av världens främsta populärvetenskapliga författare. Han har tidigare skrivit Fermats gåta, Kodboken och Big Bang. Edzard Ernst är professor i alternativmedicin vid Exeter University i England. Boken inleds med ett förord av Martin Ingvar, professor i integrativ medicin vid Karolinska institutet.

So-called alternative medicine (SCAM*) is largely useless; very few SCAMs demonstrably generate more good than harm. Yet, SCAM is popular and has grown into a huge business. Spending on SCAM in Australia (2016) was estimated to be AUS$3.9bn, in the UK (2008) £4.5bn, and in the US (2012) US $30.2bn. Why is something that is expensive and useless nevertheless popular? One answer is that consumers are constantly being misled about SCAM. Consequently, many of us have come to believe things that are quite simply not true. Currently, over 50,000,000 websites promote SCAM, and consumers are being bombarded with information not just via the internet, but also via newspapers, magazines, books and many other sources.

This situation has the potential of separating us from our cash or even of damaging our health. There is little that protects us from greedy SCAM-entrepreneurs and over-enthusiastic SCAM-therapists. Therefore, we ought to protect ourselves.

This book offers this protection for anyone who is willing to reconsider their own beliefs. It discloses the errors and lies that misled you into believing things about SCAM that are untrue. It analyses the many falsehoods used in the promotion of SCAM, explains the erroneous thinking behind them, and presents the scientific evidence in easily understandable terms. In a way, Ernst's new book amounts to a course in critical thinking, a skill that should prove to be helpful far beyond the realm of healthcare.

*Ernst’s previous book was entitled SCAM: So-Called Alternative Medicine.

King Charles has entertained a long-standing love affair with alternative medicine. This book describes his passion as it developed during the last 40 years. The King's beliefs, opinions, and ambitions are critically assessed against the background of the scientific evidence. In most instances, the contrast could not be starker. Thus, Charles' tenacious promotion of unproven, disproven, and occasionally harmful alternative therapies turns out to be little more than the pipe dream of a self-declared enemy of the Enlightenment. The book portrays our king, reviews the evidence on alternative medicine, and inspires critical thinking.

Revised edition including new material.

The scientists, academics and practitioners writing this book are not 'against' complementary or alternative medicine (CAM), but they are very much ‘for’ evidence-based medicine and single standards. They aim to counter-balance the many uncritical books on CAM and to stimulate intelligent, well-informed public debate. TOPICS INCLUDE: What is CAM? Why is it so popular? Patient choice; Reclaiming compassion; Teaching CAM at university; Research on CAM; CAM in court; Ethics and CAM; Politics and CAM; Homeopathy in context; Concepts of holism in medicine; Placebo, deceit and CAM; Healing but not curing; CAM and the media.

This is the story of my life as a doctor and a scientist. Despite a youthful ambition to become a jazz musician, I eventually studied medicine and became a medical research scientist, taking up appointments in Germany, Austria and finally in England. My reverence for the pursuit of truth through the application of scientific methods, coupled with a growing interest in the history of medicine during the Nazi era, did not always endear me to my professional colleagues. At the time I was appointed to the world's first chair in alternative medicine, this was an area of health care that had never been studied systematically, and was almost entirely dominated by outspokenly evangelic promoters and enthusiasts — among them, famously, HRH Prince Charles — many of whom exhibited an overtly hostile, anti-scientific attitude towards the objective study of their favoured therapies. Clashes were inevitable, but the sheer ferocity with which advocates of alternative medicine would go in order to protect their field from scrutiny came as a profound surprise. This memoir provides a unique insight into the cutthroat politics of academic life and offers a sobering reflection on the damage already done by pseudoscience in the field of medicine.

So-called alternative medicine (SCAM) is popular and therefore important, no matter whether we love or loathe it. Consequently, an impressive number of books about SCAM are already available. Most of them, however, are woefully uncritical, overtly promotional and dangerously misleading.

Not so this one!

This book was written by someone who received SCAM as a patient, practised SCAM as a doctor, and researched SCAM as a scientist. It provides an insider's perspective by covering aspects of SCAM which most other books avoid, and by questioning the many tacitly accepted assumptions and wild extrapolations that underpin SCAM. The text is factual, occasionally dosed with a touch of humour or satire. The aim is not only to inform but also to entertain.

It is written principally for members of the general public who have an interest in healthcare and are tired of the promotional counter-knowledge produced by SCAM enthusiasts. It is an exercise in critical thinking that might prevent you from wasting your money on (or endangering your health with) bogus treatments.

Alternative medicine (AM) is hugely popular; about 40% of the US general population have used at least one type of alternative treatment in the past year, and in Germany this figure is around 70%. The money spent on AM is considerable: the global market is expected to reach nearly US $ 200 billion by 2025, with most of these funds coming directly out of consumers’ pockets.

The reasons for this popularity are complex, but misinformation is certainly a prominent factor. The media seem to have an insatiable appetite for the subject and often report uncritically on it. Misinformation about AM on the Internet (currently about 50 million websites are focused on AM) is much more the rule than the exception.

This bookis a reference text aimed at guiding consumers through the maze of AM. The concept of the book is straightforward. It has two main parts. The first, short section provides essential background on AM, explaining in simple terms what is (and what is not) good, reliable evidence, and addressing other relevant issues like, for instance, the placebo response, informed consent, integrative medicine, etc.

The second and main part consists of 150 short chapters, topically grouped and each dedicated to one single alternative therapeutic or diagnostic method. In each of them, seven critical points are raised. These points relate to issues that are important for consumers’ decisions whether it is worth trying the method in question. Restricting the discussion to just seven points means that issues must be prioritized to those themes which are most relevant in the context of each given modality.

Of all forms of alternative medicine, chiropractic is the one that is most generally accepted. In the UK, for instance, chiropractors are regulated by statute and even have their own ‘Royal College of Chiropractic’. In the US, chiropractic’s country of origin, most chiropractors carry the title ‘doctor’ and many consumers believe they are medically trained.

Despite this high level of acceptance, chiropractic is wide open to criticism. The claims and assumptions made by chiropractors are far from evidence based. Chiropractic manipulations are of doubtful effectiveness and have regularly been associated with severe adverse effects, including multiple fatalities. The advice issued by chiropractors to patients and consumers is often less than responsible. The behaviour of chiropractors and their organisations is frequently less than professional.

This book presents and discusses recent evidence in and around chiropractic in a factual and unemotional manner. It amounts to an evidence-based critique of this profession and discloses the often dangerously misleading information published for the lay audience. It thereby contributes to advancing public health and critical thinking.

Alternative medicine (AM) is popular; about 40% of the US general population have used alternative treatment in the past year, and in Germany this figure is around 70%. The global market is expected to reach nearly US $ 200 billion by 2025, with most of these funds coming directly out of consumers’ pockets.

Consumers are bombarded with misleading and false information on AM and therefore prone to making wrong, unwise, or dangerous therapeutic decisions, endangering their health and wasting their money.

This book is a reference text aimed at guiding consumers through the maze of AM. This second edition includes over 50 additional treatments as well as updates on many others. 

This book focuses on the individuals who invented specific forms of alternative medicine. Examples are Hahnemann (homeopathy), Still (osteopathy), Schulz (autogenic training). In total, about 40 such personalities are included in the book. They have all led unusual lives, and the book explores their journey towards their inventions. Certain characteristics seem to emerge:·         They are all male!

·         Many originated from Europe

·         Most of them are white

·         Many gave their name to the therapy

·         Many inventions are relatively recent

·         Many inventors are not doctors

·         Most inventors claim to have found a panacea

·         Many adhere to vitalistic ideas

·         Almost all of the inventors are fully convinced of their invention

·         Inventions are often based on personal experience

·         The inventions tend to be implausible even by the standards of their time

The book explores all these themes and, where appropriate, contrasts them with the corresponding situation in conventional medicine.

There have been many books about the doctors of the Third Reich and their atrocities. Most of these books neglect the contribution of women in the medical profession. In this book, they are the focus of attention.

The first section of the book explains the background of the Third Reich in general and medicine during this period in particular. It addresses the situation of female doctors and why there were relatively few of them.

It goes on to detail the forms of transgression that occurred under Nazi rule—involuntary sterilization, euthanasia, and mass murder of Jews and other groups considered undesirable.

The second part of the book is a collection of 38 alphabetically arranged biographies of individual female doctors who participated in these activities. It reports on the actions they took and what happened to them after the war. 

The final chapter draws some conclusions, which can be briefly summarized as follows: 1) the female doctors'' role remains under-researched, 2) generally speaking, female doctors were also guilty, but their transgressions generally less gruesome than those of their male colleagues, 3) many of the deeds of female doctors are nevertheless shocking.